Ontario Hockey Association chair Tom Strauch has resigned three months after taking the position, leaving the governing body short another senior member as it tries to fend off an increasingly malcontent membership.

“I have a problem with the way things are going because you can never get anything done,” Strauch said. “There’s always a roadblock thrown in front of you and it was starting to affect my health, and I said I wasn’t going to put up with this crap anymore.”

The breaking point came this week, when Strauch met with Ontario Junior Hockey League commissioner Marty Savoy and Waterloo Siskins president and director of hockey operations Curtis Clairmont in Toronto to negotiate a settlement that would put an end to several issues brought forward by a collection of OJHL and Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League teams – known as “concerned members” – in a memo sent to the OHA Sept. 4.

Strauch returned with an agreement he thought “should have been a deal we could live with,” but it was voted down at the OHA’s Sept. 12 board meeting, which prompted the 66-year-old’s resignation two days later.

According to Strauch, terms included:

The OJHL would not proceed with its pending arbitration hearing against the OHA in exchange for the approval of the Milton IceHawks’ relocation to Brantford. The 99ers’ home game Thursday was postponed after the OHA refused to send officials;

If the Milton transfer was approved, the “concerned members” would pull their requisition for a special meeting, called for no later than Sept. 15;

Replacing OHA first vice-chairman Gary Maroney as liaison between the OHA and OJHL. Maroney has since taken over as chair;

Putting OHA president Karen Phibbs’ contract to tender, with Phibbs allowed to reapply;

Junior B teams would discontinue their appeal to Hockey Canada over splitting the league into conferences of 15 and 10;

Eliminating opposition to the OHA raising its player fee to $350 from $300;

Removing director Tim Simmons from the board.

Clairmont, Savoy and Phibbs didn’t immediately return calls Sept. 14. Phibbs wrote in an email Sept.7, “the OHA makes decisions in the best interests of all of its teams and their players and is accountable to all categories of its members and not only to one team or group of teams.”

Strauch expects the “concerned members” to continue their push for a meeting to oust Phibbs and several board members, as well as realign the GOJHL and resolve Brantford’s situation.

“(The OHA) would rather spend the money and fight them in court and prove that they’re right,” he said. “They’re wrong. I can’t in good conscience sit there as chair of the board and let them do this.”

Strauch took over as chair in June after spending eight years on the board, which he said has become dysfunctional, with too many agendas impeding progress.

“It’s an impossible job for me to do,” he said. “We had to have transparency, and that’s what I wanted to bring to the board. It has failed miserably, and that’s why we are where we are. “If I can’t fix it, what the hell is the sense in being there? It’s a waste of my time and taking a toll on my family too.”

Some requests made at the Sept. 10 meeting in Toronto were denied, Strauch said.

In particular, Junior B teams aligned with GOJHL Inc., a group of 15 Junior B franchises that are pushing for more autonomy, wanted the OHA to force the other 10 teams to pay a total of $7,500 in league fees in exchange for waiving the $5,000 fines levied to each of the Pelham, Fort Erie and Buffalo (now Lockport) franchises last season after refusing to pay the $750-per-team fee.

“You have to get all of the Junior B teams in a room,” Strauch said, “and whoever is running it from the OHA should sit down and say, ‘OK, we’re going through a governance renewal and put a system in place, and somebody has to govern the league, not a self-appointed person.”

Strauch is the third member of the OHA to leave in recent days.

Don Kilgallen also resigned from the board this week, and OHA administrative director Wendy MacDonald’s last day was Sept. 15.

Former executive director Mark Ellis took another job in the spring, and his position has yet to be filled.

Strauch has already suffered three heart attacks, and the stress of the job was becoming a cause for concern.

“I feel badly I couldn’t get the job done. I wanted to give it all I have, but there comes a time where I know I’m never going to get this done.”